Most Haunted Blog (Blogtober #26)

I loved the television show Most Haunted when I was a teenager. I remember watching it religiously – and even tuned into the late night live shows when they put them on staying up WELL past my bedtime.

I can still remember the format – arrive at spooky location, between flashes of spooky transitions Yvette Fielding (the presenter) talks about the history of the house, bring in the medium who confirms the history of the house (but hasn’t been told anything beforehand!) and talks about what they ‘sense’, then move into the night scenes where various members of the crew sit in different rooms and freak each other out, ending with everyone screaming and having to leave.

It was fantastic, paranormal, silliness.

And yes, it was convenient that every time something spooky or paranormal did happen, like something moving on its own, the camera was not quite in the right position to capture the ‘ghost’. Or the famous spoon incident where a spoon flew dramatically across the room – seemingly thrown by an angry phantom (or… you know… the camera operator).

So yes, there was a bit of suspension of disbelief, no matter how much they all swore it was real.

Later, when parts of it were proven to be fake, and the spiritual medium they used was found out to be sneakily researching the locations before visiting them, and the spoon incident where it looked like a spoon was thrown from behind the camera was revealed to have been thrown from behind the camera (who knew?), we all nodded sadly and accepted it and pretended to feel betrayed.

But did it matter that it was fake, really? Personally, I just wanted to spend one hour a week convincing myself that ghosts were absolutely real. And hey, isn’t it fun sometimes to stand in the dark and scream and pretend there are spooks everywhere?

I think so.

See you tomorrow.